Tag: birthday cake

Another birthday cake: the swim party birthday cake

Another birthday, another cake.  This time for a six years old who wanted a swimming pool party. Since we live on an island in a protected bay (no waves), why not do it close to home, rather than drive 1/2 hour to the closest proper swimming pool.  It  was  to be a swim party in the little bay down from the house: shallow water (easy supervision) , lilos, shade, grass and fun kids who can spend their time in the water.  And that comes with a swim party birthday cake!

swim birthday party

The challenge

Resisting to heat and sun

It was a hot day, the party was at a little beach a few minutes walk. Bringing  the party home for the cake was out of question of course and bringing the cake to the party meant it had to be able to suffer heat for some time: no cream based filling, no custard filling, no butter cream icing.

Swim party without the whole mermaids story taking over

The next part of the challenge was the decoration  First I had only a limited amount of time available to complete the task.  Then I still wanted a cake that did not hint oo much around the mermaids world but had more water features in it, think Moana if you want!

The cake itself

Here, I went for a sure value, a cake I know super well, the Reine de Saba (Sheba’s Queen), used a tall edge baking tin and this was it. Generally I would make that cake “flatter” , as a result it is lighter and more fluffy than when piled high.

Result: really good cake. Did I add a filling.  No! I opted for the idea the children like simple things. The fact it was already a good chocolate cake was plenty.

The decoration

I opted for a layer of dark chocolate ganache surrounding the sides and top.  This help for the next stage and add a lovely soft chocolate kick (yum). Nothing thick, that layer was maybe two millimetres thick, maybe three in places.

On top of the ganache, I used fondant icing. You know, the one you buy in packs at the supermarket and roll flat with the rolling-pin. Using different food colourants we got a pretty cool outcome. I say “we” because Ben joined me when I was starting the sides and completed the waves on the side.

On top, there were only few components: a mermaid which we had to find in the toy box late at night (it was getting late) and a clam.  The pearl clam did take a little work.  I am not the biggest fan of macarons (or macaroons), I find them so sweet! As a result, I never did them before. I did one trial a few weeks before and this set of macarons.  Well, in the end, it is not that hard to make but you can’t really mak one or two, so make sure you have guests to help you go through the batch to avoid a sugar overdose!  The coral reef was also made with the macaron mix, I just piped it in that shape which became quite handy.

The recipe of the swim party birthday cake

It can be found HERE. The recipe for macaron is not included, I will get around to do it.  I did not find one that I liked in English , so used a French one. The recipe is the one used by the biggest French pastry chefs.

The sea swim birthday cake

This sea swim cake was designed to be for a hot day, that means, nothing that will melt or perish from the heat: no whipped cream, no buttercream, no chocolate top, no creamy filling, etc.

The cake is a simple Reine de Saba (Queen of Sheba) chocolate cake adapted to a tall cake tin. The cake was covered with a chocolate ganache to make it flat and smooth and facilitate the use of fondant icing.  Added to the decoration are coral reef made of macaroon paste and an open macaroon for a clam.

The macaroon and the clam require added work and although it is not that hard, it is technical. Feel free to replace by lollies or biscuits and adapt the scene.  I will upload a recipe.

Serves 15 easily

Ingredients:

You will need a cake base (or you can make one out of thick cardboard and aluminium foil) of diameter slightly larger than your mould.

For the cake

  • 150 g of white or caster sugar
  • 100 g of plain flour
  • 2/3 sachet of raising powder or 2/3 teaspoon if using it from the box
  • 150 g of dark cooking chocolate (if you are using a 70% cocoa chocolate, decrease the chocolate quantity to 120 g, it would be too strong for children).
  • 120 g of butter
  • 4 egg yolks and 4 egg white beaten to snow.

For the chocolate ganache:

  • 200 g of dark cooking chocolate
  • 200 g of cream

For the decoration:

  • 1 kg of fondant icing (from the supermarket)
  • corn flour
  • Food colorants + latex or nitrile food prep gloves
  • Pearls and other decorations
  • 1 macaroon and some of the dough piped in the shape of coral on baking paper – alternatively use lollies and biscuits.
Method

The cake:

  1. Heat the oven to 180 °Celsius.
  2. Butter and flour a tin, or butter and line.
  3. Melt the butter and chocolate together.
  4. Mix in the sugar, then the egg yolks one at the time.
  5. Add the flour and raising powder together, being careful not to create any lumps.
  6. Fold in the egg whites (in snow) gently.
  7. Transfer to the baking tin and insert in the oven.
  8. Cook until dry in the center (20 to 30 min depending on ovens and thickness of the cake in the tin)
  9. Remove from the oven, transfer onto a cooling rack.
  10. When the cake is cold, cut the bumpy top part using  large bread knife: Use as delineation the top edge of the sides and follow this to remove the “bump”. Don’t throw it away, it will make a great dessert with a little bit of the ganache!

The chocolate ganache:

  1. Cut the chocolate in small pieces (use a strong knife and make pieces of about 1/2 cm width.
  2. Bring the cream to boil in a saucepan, remove when the first bubbles appear and pour over the chocolate pieces.
  3. Allow to stand for a couple of minutes, then mix until smooth. Place in the fridge to firm up.  To use it you want it peanut butter consistency, if it got too hard, allow to stand at room temperature.

Assembling:

  1. Place the cake on the cake base. Some people recommend using a dollop of the ganache to secure the cake to the cake base.
  2. Place a few spoons of chocolate ganache over the top and with a dough scraper, spread evenly over the cake (no need to refine your work at this stage).  Place one spoon of ganache on your scraper and with movements from the bottom of the cake to the top, roughly spread on the vertical side.
  3. Clean you dough scraper .  If you have a cake wheel, it is time to use it! Hold the scraper at 45 degrees angle from the cake.  Turn the cake keeping your hand position.  This will spread evenly the ganache along the edge. Reset and repeat as needed. If it is getting messy and the ganache is getting soft, place the cake in the fridge for ten minutes and resume.
  4. In the end you want the ganache (you will have extra) neatly spread  around the cake and on the top creating a flat top and a flat  side. Place in the fridge to harden.
  5. Prepare your  fondant icing.  You want to make 3 types of blue and keep a little of white.  Break apart 1/2 of the fondant in a ball, use the food colorants adding blue and possibly a touch of green to get the colour of your choice.  This piece of fondant will be used to cover the whole cake.  Break the other ball in three pieces. Set one aside, this will be your white one, and colour the other two.

    Tip: Use gloves or your hands will get coloured
    Tip: Use cornflour to present the fondant sticking top much or sticking on things, especially if you add a fair bit of liquid food colouring.  
    Tip: Cover the  fondant you don’t need with cell wrap, it tends to dry very easily and cannot be used if dry.

  6.  Using a rolling-pin, corn flour and either a rolling matt or baking paper, roll the large ball to a thickness of 3-4 mm.  It will be large enough to cover the top and skirt the sides.  Transfer gently over the cake. With the palms of your hands apply the fondant on the sides. You should not have to fold it, rather extend it slightly. Cut the extra at the bottom.
  7. Roll the other icing fondant pieces. Using a glass, cookie cutter or any other items to cut pieces to make the tiles for the waves on the side.  The waves on the top are simply cur with a sharp knife randomly.
  8. Before applying a piece of icing fondant on another one, dampen the area with your finger or with a kitchen brush.
  9. Complete the decoration to your taste.
  10. Keep the cake in a cool area until you need it.  The cake can be left out for a few hours before serving if required.

swim birthday party

Another birthday, another cake…

Another birthday, another cake…

Actually double it all up, however I did not take any photo of the first one.

The first cake was a large Paris- Brest salted caramel chocolate ganache. Miam.  Indulgent.

The second birthday cake had a few constraints: it had to be a plain cake and have plenty berries on top.  Easy for a child birthday cake!  For once!  What I really like in that cake, is the sponge cake I use to do it.  It is the fourth time I use it for  birthday cakes (see the unicorn cake and the pokemon cake) and I just love it. This is what I am sharing today.  For the full recipe, click HERE.

 

The sponge cake has hazelnut meal in it.  I love that little extra.  The rest is pretty simple, you only need to whip some cream and add some berries.  I have previously used a raspberry chocolate mousse (based on whipped cream) to fill it, It was beautiful!

A few golden rules with sponge cakes:

  • Use a tin not too wide
  • Make sure the eggs are at room temperature
  • Follow the recipe!

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Hazelnut Sponge Cake

I use this hazelnut sponge cake for an afternoon tea of for the base of birthday cakes. I like the hazelnut addition which brings it a special flavour and is also slightly addictive.  The recipe is extracted from Gourmet Traveller.

When you are about to make a sponge cake, you must make sure you follow these rules:

  • Eggs must be at room temperature, allow half an hour out of the fridge before using (or it won’t fluff up enough)
  • Follow the order exactly (I did once, by mistake, put the butter with the eggs and sugar, I can tell you it will not end up like a sponge cake)
  • Use a very wide bowl and either a large metal spoon, large spatula or a very large whisk that you use as a large spatula when folding in the butter and then the flour.  
  • Use a tin 20 to 23 cm wide, no wider

If you want to make layers you can cut the cake in up to three layers or choose to bake several cakes of the same diameter.

Ingredients:
  • 190 g of plain flour
  • 50 g of hazelnut meal or hazelnuts
  • 80 g of salted butter (you can use unsalted to)
  • 8 eggs at room temperature
  • 220 g of caster sugar

For the cream and berries filling and topping:

  • 2 punnets of raspberries, 2 punnets of small strawberries, 2 punnets of blackberries and 1 punnet of blueberries
  • 2 pots of 600 mL (or equivalent volume) of thickened cream
  • 1/2 cup to a cup of icing sugar

Method:
  1. Heat up the oven to 160°C.
  2. Melt the butter and let to cool.
  3. Line the bottom of your tin and butter and flour the sides.
  4. If using whole hazelnuts, process them to fine meal and mix with the flour.  Sift the flour and hazelnut meal (I use a fine mesh sieve and a whisk).
  5. For those with a food mixer, it is time to use it.  If not, make sure to use your wider whisk.  Place the eggs and sugar together and mix on full power until triple the size and foamy.  With a food mixer, it will take about 8 minutes.  Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the butter slowly and fold in then the flour in three batches.
  6. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes.  When press lightly the top should spring back and the sides would slightly have pulled away from the sides of the tin.
  7. Turn over a wire rack, remove the tin and baking paper, cool completely before using.
Berry and cream filling & topping:
  • Choose 1/2 cup of berries and add 1 teaspoon of icing sugar.  Process in a small food processor to have a coulis
  • Cut the cake in three layers with a bread knife
  • Whip 600 mL of cream adding 1/4 cup icing sugar towards the end (this will fill one layer and half of the next)
  • Place the lower layer of cake on the serving dish, use slightly more than half of the whipped cream making sure to not go over the edges.  Place half of the coulis on top and using a fork, swirl it in the cream.
  • Repeat with layer 2 (you will need to whip the second batch).  Place the upper layer of the cake and the remaining of the whipped cream keeping it natural (don’t be tempted to flatten or tidy up the look) .  Add berries on top randomly and generously.

Here are a few other birthday cakes made with the hazelnut sponge cake as a basis:

pikachu pokemon cake

unicorn cake